 Raika Hojo |
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Raika is a cheerful and humble boy who's a bit sticky-fingered. He loves singing. He lacks a bit of common sense and has a hard time discerning "right" from wrong.
He is a member of NEW DIMENSION's Special for Princess!. He wants to enjoy being an idol alongside the person he admires and have lots of people to listen to his songs.[1]
I'm Raika from NEW DIMENSION! I'm a rookie who only just recently debuted in the unit Spri, so I'm in the middle of learnin' lots about idols right now! 'Til the day I can become a splendid idol who can cheer up those who listen to my songs... I'll do my best alongside everyone♪[1]
KannaRaika-san is a member of Spri, the same unit as myself. And to me, he is quite literally my savior. Raika-san himself doesn't remember it, however. ...So there are things I can't predict, hm.[1]
Appearance
Raika is a young boy of below average height and slim build. He has long, messy, dark teal hair that sticks out in tufts with the back grown out until the bottom of his torso, and red eyes. His outfit consists of a cream colored long sleeved top with an opening on the left sleeve exposing part of his arm, and a singular diagonal zipper along the bottom. It is decorated with a piece of red fabric that hangs from above the torso with the number "97." This is worn over a sleeveless navy blue undershirt, light orange trousers with the legs rolled up, and a pair of brown sandals. He wears a silver chain around his neck.
Personality
Raika is a somewhat ditzy young boy, often referring to himself as bird-brained, demeaning his memory and information retention abilities. He speaks in archaic fashion, atypical for a child of his age.
During the 4piece audition, Raika states he has neglected eating for days.[2] He has also attempted to hunt for small creatures to eat due to hunger, exhausting the last of his energy trying to catch something.[3] When presented with food he does not hesitate to eat, often scoffing it down so fast that it's regarded as impolite or poses a choking hazard to him.[2][4]
As a habit, Raika steals absentmindedly. Though he is aware it's wrong, he doesn't register his actions as stealing and remains unaware of the ramifications until he's confronted. He has stolen Anzu's wallet,[3] and food from Mitsuru;[2] both times he apologizes profusely and says he didn't mean to do it. He attempts to balance out stealing Anzu's wallet with stuffing it full of bugs, as he thinks filling her wallet is a good repayment for the bad action of stealing; but as he has no money, he puts bugs in, and seems genuinely shocked when Anzu gets mad at him for it.
Raika acts surprised when treated kindly by others, and responds in earnest each time, amazed he's being given grace and insisting he'll repay the person who's assisted him somehow. He is often apologetic when he thinks he's burdening others, even when they insist otherwise. He states that repaying others' kindness was taught to him in the facility he lived in.[3]
Etymology
Hojo is written with 宝 (hou; treasure, wealth) and 丈 (jou; height, everything someone has). Raika is written with 萊 (rai; goosefoot, weed, fallow field) and 香 (ka; fragrance, scent).
Before his debut in VS★GOURMET, Raika's last name was romanized as "Houjyo" on multiple occasions, reflected in the official PR materials where he was wearing his 4piece tshirt with name tag, and his original audition jersey live2d model. This was changed to be consistent with his in-game romanization, and the promotional materials were reuploaded shortly after the original uploads to reflect the change.
Family
- For more information, see Raika Hojo/Family.
Raika's family has been mentioned to be distant relatives of the Sakuma family.[4] Raika states that he was made to leave home and be on his own when he was young as per family tradition, which led to him living alone for an indeterminate amount of time. He was taken into the "facility," and seemingly recently, Raika's "Sakuma jii-sama" took him out of the facility and into his care. Raika has stated that he hasn't seen his parents since leaving home, but assumes they're well.[5]
Raika is polite and appreciative towards Sakuma jii-sama, Rei, and Ritsu for taking care of him.
Trivia
- Raika's first-person pronoun of choice is 拙 (setsu), making him the first person in the series to use this pronoun. It's a humble, almost self-deprecating and relatively old way to refer to oneself, consistent with Raika's use of archaic wording.
- Raika often refers to himself with birdlike terms, and is stated by Rei to be a descendant of harpies.[4]
- At the facility, he was referred to as "Number 38."[2]
- As a result of biased teaching, he knows how to read and understand old-fashioned phrases and complicated kanji, but struggles to read simple kanji.[6]
- Raika also struggles to understand loanwords and wasei-eigo.[7]
- As Special for Princess!'s in-universe debut is confirmed to have taken place after his ES!! Year 2 birthday on May 22nd,[8] Raika is 15 years old in all post-debut events and stories.
- Raika's live stream username is "@Raika_Spri", which references Special for Princess!.[9]
 Raika Hojo
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| Special for Princess! | Esu • Kanna • Yume • Raika | |
| 4piece | Esu Sagiri • Ibuki Taki • Kanna Natsu • Fuyume Hanamura • Raika Hojo • Nice Arneb Thunder | |